The present invention relates to biomaterials formed by nucleophilic addition reactions to conjugated unsaturated groups, and the uses of such biomaterials.
Synthetic biomaterials, including polymeric hydrogels can be used in a variety of applications, including pharmaceutical and surgical applications. They can be used, for example, to deliver therapeutic molecules to a subject, as adhesives or sealants, as tissue engineering and wound healing scaffolds, and as cell transplant devices.
While much progress has been made in the field of polymeric biomaterials, further developments must be made in order for such biomaterials to be used optimally in the body. For, example the formation of biomaterials in the presence of sensitive biological materials is difficult to achieve because the components of the biomaterials do not exhibit a high degree of self selectivity.